The invention relates to an electrically controlled selecting device for the needles of a flat knitting machine in which the needle selecting jacks are mounted so as to be movable in the same direction as the needles in the needle grooves of the needle beds. The selecting jacks include staggered feet which form foot rows in the longitudinal direction of the needle bed. A control element is provided on the carriage for each of the foot rows and can be moved into and out of position for engaging selected feet in a foot row.
In the selecting device of U.S. Pat. No. 3,805,558, the control elements for the selecting jacks are moved basically vertically toward or away from the needle bed. This arrangement requires an extremely high switching force and a long switching period which has a disadvantageous effect on the rapidity of performance of the flat knitting machine.
In another known device for the selection of needles of an electrically controlled flat knitting machine, the elements controlling the needles are lowered into the needle bed or lifted away therefrom, whereby the control elements in the bed are moved in the direction of movement of the needles. This provides an advantageous structure for the carriage, particularly if the control elements are pivoted. The manufacture of the needle beds, however, is more complicated and gives more opportunity for lack of precision as does the manufacture of needle beds in which all elements are mounted in the needle groove, i.e., the needles, the pattern jacks and the selecting jacks are disposed in continuous uniformly deep grooves.
German DOS No. 2,261,973 and German DOS No. 2,633,338 each disclose a selecting apparatus for the needles of circular knitting machines, in which stationary levers are provided on an axle, which levers selectively press the needles or selecting jacks into the needle grooves and thereby prevent a catching of the feet of the needles or the selecting jacks by their own representative lock elements. The disabling of the needles or selecting jacks does not take place directly by inclined disabling surfaces on the levers, but rather by their own additional lock elements. This type of device would be too heavy and complicated to be used on the carriage of a flat knitting machine.